Dr Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne

Dr Philip Freier was elected Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne in August 2006 and enthroned as archbishop on 16 December, 2007, in St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. He was previously Bishop of the Northern Territory (appointed in 1999).

His time in Melbourne has been marked by a willingness to engage in public discussion with community leaders on important issues of the day in BMW Edge, Federation Square, where he has hosted a series of Breakfast conversations open to the public; and early on he caught the public imagination by launching his ‘Prayer4Melbourne Quest’ – visiting public spaces such as shopping malls and welfare centres to meet and talk to Melburnians in order to hear their hopes and fears.

One of these fears, which he made the subject of one of his BMW Edge Conversations, is the rising incidence of depression among children, and the premature sexualisation of children. He has called on the Government for a national inquiry into the state of childhood in Australia.

He has also been actively engaged in a variety of current and social justice issues, including global warming, third world poverty, David Hicks’ incarceration without trial and Australia’s treatment of Indigenous Australians.

He also recently chaired a forum at the Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly meeting of the world’s Anglican bishops, on the science of climate change.